FINANCE: Mike Slade’s Helical Bar has firepower of around £230m following its convertible bond issue and a wave of asset disposals.
The company is now on the acquisition trail with a focus on regional offices and industrial and distribution warehouses, Slade said in an interim management statement this morning.
Helical Bar will also continue to allocate money to its central London development programme and to new acquisition opportunities in the capital.
Disposals during the period 1 April to 24 July totalled £38m and include the Guineas Shopping Centre, Newmarket, for £18.235m reflecting a yield of 8.0%, Luminous House in Milton Keynes for £2.6m, (in which Helical had a 50% stake) and a 39,000 sq ft building in Preston for £1.7m.
Since the end of June, Helical Bar has used £30m of the £100m convertible bond it launched in June to pay down part of a revolving credit facility.
Asset management highlights include the setting of a new headline rent of £37.50 per sq ft at Shepherds Building, London W14, compared to an average rent of £24.50, and the letting of the 1,625 sq ft first phase of Cardiff’s Creative Quarter at an annual rent of £30,500.
sophia.furber@estatesgazette.com
